(Length: 15 pages)

Executive Summary (This is a document excerpt)

IT organizations must optimize their processes to better support the business, reduce costs, improve quality, and improve time-to-market. Many have turned to offshore outsourcing or Agile application development processes to help address these challenges — but not both. Indeed, given Agile methodologies' intense developer/customer interaction and light documentation requirements, the two approaches seem diametrically opposed. However, companies that master the complexity of merging the two types of approaches can further reduce costs and also improve their ability to communicate with remote development resources, a challenge for all companies doing offshore outsourcing. The result? Companies doing offshore work can better meet their customers' needs, and Agile development teams can cut costs. But organizations blending these two approaches will face significant hurdles in terms of team communication, development culture, and customer participation. Not all Indian firms will be able to make the transition to Agile development, so there is a key opportunity for US and European firms investing in offshore sites.